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INTRODUCTION

The book previously read is about the personal diary of a Jewish girl named Anne Frank and

her family, in which she tells us about all the experiences and situations they went through when

they were hiding inside the annex during the Nazi persecution of the Netherlands in World War

II; thanks to this we can have a deeper understanding of what their life was like during the war

and the daily struggle for survival and hope.

In this version of the book we can find more accurate information as it is considered one of the

most complete versions since additional material has been compiled from other versions which

were not present in previous editions, taking into account that we can find sexual or personal

content that had been excluded from other versions.

SUMMARY

This book emphasizes the life of a Jewish girl who experiences living during World War II and

gives us a broader view of her thoughts and feelings as she and her family, as well as others

living in the annex, go through a time of great danger and fear of being discovered; they also

face hunger and lack of supplies. They also share their hopes and fears for the future and

eventual end of the war.

We know that Anne Frank's diary begins when she receives a diary for her thirteenth birthday,

Friday, June 12, 1942. In it she tells us how fortunate she felt to have her family and friends

with her on such an important day as her birthday, as they showered her with gifts and surprises.

She also introduces and describes some of her classmates, suitors and friends, writing about

them with full sincerity and transparency about how she felt about them.

On Saturday, June 20, 1942 Anna tells us that writing a diary is a somewhat strange experience

for her, but she did not mind because writing in her diary was her easiest way to let off steam.
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I would like to highlight the saying that she uses, which tells us "Paper has more patience than

people", perhaps she did not trust the people around her, because although she had loving

parents, many admirers, friends and a family, apparently perfect but what she longed for was

to have a friend to confide in and tell her intimate experiences, however she could not consider

any person that way so she decided to consider her diary as her new best friend named Kitty.

On this day he also tells us a little about the arrival of his family in Holland, a place where he

lived good times, but that did not last long because after May 1940 the war began, then the

capitulation and the arrival of the Germans and from that moment there were a series of

problems for the Jews.

These events became more and more aggravated and the anti-Jewish decrees in my opinion

became a little absurd, such as forbidding them to travel by car, even in their own car, they were

forced to do their shopping between 3 and 5 in the afternoon, they were forbidden to go to the

theater, cinema or any other form of entertainment, they were even forbidden to sit in their

gardens or those of their friends after 8 pm, cinema or any other form of entertainment, they

were even forbidden to sit in their gardens or those of their friends after 8 o'clock in the evening,

to finish I would like to quote the sentence that Jacque one of Anna's friends tells her, "I don't

dare to do anything anymore, because I'm afraid it's not allowed".

Anna, like any other teenager, mentions how she was concerned about her student life and a

clear example of her concern was with Professor Keesing, who was a teacher who reproached

Anna for being a very talkative girl and thanks to this she was awarded 3 essays, in which she

had to defend the need to talk, mentioning that this is a feminine impulse and inherited from

her mother.

Continuing with the events of an ordinary teenage girl, Anna experiences the fact that she is

being courted by a "handsome, nice and polite" young man, as her mother would say. Hellow
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Silberberg, Wilma's second cousin, introduces himself to Anna as a shy sixteen year old boy

who is good at telling all kinds of funny stories, they spend time together to such an extent that

he falls in love with Anna, but she did not see him as something more, he was just a friend to

her since she was in love with another boy named Peter.

In other instances on Sunday, July 5, 1942, Anna's father mentioned to her the fact that they

should go into hiding, even though it would be very hard for Anna and Margot to live isolated

from the world, this led Anna to ask herself endless questions about where they could hide so

that they would not be easy prey for the Germans. On Wednesday, July 8, a notice had arrived

from the SS that Margot was to be drafted, this would change all of OTTO's plans, since the

date foreseen to go to the secret annex would have to be changed, and since the arrival of that

notice both Anna and her family began to pack all their belongings with the help of Miep and

her husband, dressed in several layers of clothes and one suitcase per person.

On Thursday, July 9, 1942, Anna's parents reveal to her what the plan was to hide and how

they have been carrying furniture and supplies to the hiding place, which is located in her

father's office building, then describes how to get to the "secret annex". This is located on the

second floor of the building, up a flight of stairs we can find the door on the right which leads

to the annex, upon entering there is a narrow hallway that leads to the room that serves as

Frank's living room. Next to it is a smaller room and a study. The door in the corner leads to

the bathroom and Margot and Anna's bedroom. If we go upstairs we can find a very large,

bright and spacious room, where there is a stove and a sink which would become the kitchen

and bedroom of Mr. and Mrs. Van Dan. Finally at the front of the building, there is an attic

and a loft.

The next day Anna and her father started to sort the boxes, fill the cabinets, hammer nails and

clean that place to be a little more comfortable, although for Anna this is a strange way of seeing
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life in hiding and the rules for living in that place were no exception since they had to keep

silent at all times until the factory workers had left, in addition, when taking a shower the

members had to choose a place to wash themselves in a bathtub.

Anna and her father have a good relationship between father and daughter because, for her, he

is the only person who understands her perfectly and does not reproach her as much as her

mother with whom they had a bad relationship, since the way her mother treats Margot is very

different from the way she treats her and for this reason Anna thought that she cannot fit into

her family circle.

On July 13, 1942 the Van Dan's arrived at the annex along with their son Peter who had arrived

unexpectedly since the date that was fixed had been advanced because the Germans were

sending call notices and that gave them much terror, so they decided to arrive a day earlier;

soon after living together they became a single family and told how people believed that the

Frank family had disappeared.

Day after day the members inside the annexe devised ways to make the back house, as Anna

calls it, truly secret so they could go unnoticed. One of these methods was to build a large

bookshelf which would cover the door leading to the secret annex. On the other hand, the

atmosphere was not so pleasant among these members since every day there was a new dispute

because of their immaturity, a phrase that I would like to take into consideration that Anna

mentions is, "it seems strange to me that adults argue so easily and frequently and for such

trivial matters".

During her confinement, Anna's father encouraged her to continue studying, she liked

shorthand, she had a very good taste for reading and she praised every work of her favorite

writers among them Cissy Van Marxveldt and Kornet. Likewise, her father encouraged her
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to read works by Goethe, Schiller, Hebbel and other German writers so that Anna could read

German quite well as time went by.

On Thursday, November 5, 1942 the British have finally achieved some successes in Africa

and Stalingrad and on Monday, November 9, Mr. Van Dan reports that the British had landed

in Tunis, Algiers, Casablanca and Oran, in addition, sobering and depressing news is

described concerning the Jews as the Gestapo treated them very harshly by taking them to

Westerbork, where the people had almost nothing to eat or drink, lived in deplorable

conditions, such as only one toilet and one washbasin for millions of people, and the women

and children had their heads shaved.

Churchill, British Prime Minister repeated in England: "This is not the end. It is not even the

beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning". On the other hand,

Stalingrad, the Russian city that had been under attack for three months, had not yet fallen into

the hands of the Germans, however, some time later Algiers, Morocco, Casablanca and Oran

had fallen into the hands of the British; only Tunisia was to be hoped for.

On Tuesday, November 17, 1942, the eighth member of the annex, Mr. Dussel, who had

previously spoken to Miep asking for a safe place where he could hide, joined the group, to

which she replied that she had something in mind and added, "that he would have to hide as

soon as possible, preferably on Saturday, but it seemed very unlikely, since he had to update

his records, settle his accounts and attend to a couple of patients". The dentist Alfred Dussel,

who had a reputation for being calm, refined, superficial and friendly, although later Anna

describes him as a disciplinarian, old-fashioned, preacher of unbearably long sermons on

manners, was additionally shown the place that would become his home from that moment on.

Likewise, he was shared with her the typewritten regulations of the Secret Annexation:
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Prospectus and Guide of the Secret Annexation, in which all the rules, comforts, activities, how

to behave and the fact that he had to share a room with Anna are shown.

This was a sudden and confusing change for Mr. Dussel as he kept asking himself questions,

he was also a great informer, as he came to update all the members of the annex, he told them

how night after night the military knocked on the doors looking for Jews and how it was

practically impossible to escape from them and even offered rewards for informing on the Jews

who were kept hidden. No one could be spared, the elderly, children, babies and even pregnant

women were taken away, all straight to the slaughterhouse. And that every night hundreds of

planes pass over Holland to plant their bombs on German soil, so that every hour hundreds, or

even thousands, of people are killed in Russia and Africa, the world is at war!

On Saturday, February 27, 1943, Churchill was recovering from pneumonia, Gandi, champion

of Indian freedom, was back on his feet with a hunger strike and the new owner arrived who

wanted to snoop around the secret annex, however, Mr. Kleiman claimed that he had forgotten

the keys in his house and to some extent the annex members were safe.

Thursday, March 18, 1943, Turkey is on the side of England, the Führer a reporter was talking

to wounded soldiers. To cap it all, on Saturday, March 27, Rauter, a German big shot addressed

a speech. "All Jews must be out of German-occupied territories by July 1. The province of

Utrecht will be cleansed of Jews between April 1 and May 1, and the provinces of North and

South Holland between May 1 and June 1". Tuesday, May 18, 1943, the Dutch youth are

forced to sign a declaration in which they declare, "to sympathize with the Germans and

approve of the New Order", therefore, if they refuse they will be sent to labor camps under the

tyranny of the Germans.

June 13, 1943, Anna celebrates her fourteenth birthday with some guilt as the gifts and candies

she received involved a great sacrifice and the situation inside the annex was not easy. For, as
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time went by, the food rations and supplies in the annex were not sufficient, her food was based

on stale bread, spinach and potatoes. In addition to this, Mr. Vossen was diagnosed with

stomach cancer, and also, thanks to the conditions in which these individuals live, they have

been getting sick one by one with various diseases such as toothache for Mrs. Van Dan,

migraines and insomnia for Margot, the flu for Mr. Frank's father, and the eye problem for

Anna, who has an eye problem, Anna's eyesight problem and other situations, not to mention

the fact that their clothes are wearing out every day, the fear and anguish they feel because they

are condemned to listen to the bombings and people's lamentations, not to mention the great

terror they feel when they are discovered.

In July 1943, Anna begins to tell how the north of Amsterdam has been destroyed and where

the hospitals were full of hundreds of wounded and counting more than 200 dead. Where

children are searching for their parents in the rubble and ashes left by the heavy bombing of

Holland. But there is hope in knowing that Mussolini handed in his resignation to the King of

Italy. In the month of September the atmosphere inside the annex is heavier, Anna describes

how it is to go through so many risky situations from the moment she arrived at the annex with

a crisis of tears, infinite loneliness, the slow understanding of her own defects that all the

members of the annex emphasize, but thanks to this she is becoming a young woman a little

more mature and looking for joy in her heart, made of superficialities and joy as an innocent

girl. She also began to stop thinking about all the misery that she lived around her, since

sometimes she felt so guilty about having to eat and sleep when other people were going through

situations such as not having clothes, insufficient food, malnourished children, epidemics that

were generated thanks to the deplorable living conditions and that for her what she had was a

luxury. She even began to look for companionship in Peter and established a close and

emotional bond.
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A new wave of antisemitism is stirring in the Netherlands, and it is said that German Jews who

were refugees in other countries should return to Germany. In May 1944 Anna feels depressed

and hopeless because of the overwhelming problems listed, such as the fact that the vegetable

supplier could no longer help them, the extensive Jewish problem, the poor diet, the stress, the

need to feel free, the fear of feeling guilty if one day they were discovered and that their

protectors would pay the consequences.

In July 1944 Anna reaches her fifteenth birthday and it was also where the landings of the

British troops began, Gerbrandy, the Prime Minister of Belgium, King Haakon of Norway,

De Gaulle and the King of England make speeches to the people; Chruchill represents a new

light of hope for the members of the annex. Following this, Anna thinks that there are more

reasons to believe that the war is going to end, since, in July 1944 there was an assassination

attempt against Hitler, but it was not the Jews, communists or English capitalists, instead this

attempt was carried out by a general of the German nobility, a count, but when he was

discovered he was shot by the Führer.

Tuesday, August 01, 1944 is Anna's last letter. But it is known that on August 4, 1944, the

Polizei Feld interrupts the annex, taking all the members of the annex to concentration camps

where only Anne's father managed to survive the hardships of the Dutch camps. In March 1945,

Anne Frank dies inside the Berge-Belsen concentration camp, two months before the

liberation of the Netherlands.

In conclusion, I would like to say that for this project I took the liberty of watching the film as

a support material, which lasted three hours. At the beginning I could see how this little girl

Anna had an ordinary life, but suddenly she entered a world of hiding, war, famine, fear, hope

and I mean hope as the fact that every day she was confined in the annex she imagined herself

and her sister going back to her normal life with her friends, to school, to her home or with her
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little kitten and all that time with her sister, to school, to her home or with her little kitten and

all that time spent inside the annex is a struggle against herself and the people who tormented

her, either by the way she behaved or the way she was, however being there was a blessing and

something that other Jews could not afford. However, in the film she tells us how a new

employee, thanks to his ambition reveals the place where Ana and the other members are, this

generated in me a lot of rage to be honest because these people did not do any harm to this

employee, but nevertheless he denounced them and right from that moment all these people

who were inside the annex and who were taken to different concentration camps would live the

last days of their lives.

Anna, Margot and her mother were taken to the Berge-Belsen concentration camp which in

my opinion I would describe as hell itself, where the soldiers do not have a drop of humanity

and the inhabitants of this camp I would describe as souls in pain. At the beginning the three of

them stay together but after a short time Margot and Anna are separated from their mother,

they are disconsolate and helpless and in this deplorable condition of life Margot gets sick and

her only companion Anna takes care of her until the last moment, Just seeing that scene in

which Anna loses the last thing she had left in her life was very heartbreaking for me and soon

after she also dies, but what angers me the most is that she could have been saved, since it is

incredible to know that she died only two weeks before her release.

Anna's dream was to be a great writer and that dream was fulfilled by her father, Otto Frank,

when he returned to the building where at some point was her hiding place, Miep gave him the

diary and all the letters of his daughter and so he decided to publish her diary which to this day

has become one of the most read and historical documents in which you can see a powerful

description of life under Nazi occupation from the perspective of a young Jewish girl trying to

maintain her humanity and hope in an increasingly dark world.

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GLOSSARY

1. Admonitions: Very stern warning given to someone.

2. Diatribas: Violent and offensive speech or writing, directed against something or

someone.

3. Nimios: Generally said of something non-material, insignificant or unimportant.

4. Retracted: A person who is shy or reserved and withdraws from dealing with people.

5. Avasallar: To subjugate or subject someone to obedience.

6. Nata: A thick white layer that appears in milk when it is left to stand.

7. Perorata: Long and inopportune speech that is made with certain passion and

vehemence.

8. Reprimand: Very severe reprimand of disapproval that is made to a person because of

his performance or his behavior.

9. Aquejados: A person with a reason for grief or distress.

10. Pudor: Embarrassment or shyness that can be felt for anything or any cause.

11. Partition: A movable partition of wood, glass or other material that is placed vertically

in a room to divide its space or to isolate a part of the room.

12. Chink: Opening between the doorjamb and the door.

13. Indecorous: That lacks decorum, or offends it.

14. Calisthenics: Set of gymnastic exercises for the development of muscular force and

coordination.

15. Quicksilver: Ship that transported mercury.

16. Flirtear: To try to attract another person to initiate a relationship or by flirting.

17. Shorthand: System of rapid writing by means of abbreviations and conventional signs.

18. Dechado: Person or thing that by its qualities or behavior is taken as a model and

example.
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19. Batiburrillo: A mixture of disparate things or unconnected species.

20. Inconceivable: That which cannot be conceived or understood.

21. Divan: Seat without back, generally with arms and with loose cushions upholstered.

22. Skein: Set of turns of thread, wool, silk or other similar material without any support.

23. Uncivilized: Person with lack of civilization.

24. Governess: Woman in charge of the education or instruction of one or several children

of a family.

25. Fascist: A person who belongs to a fascist party.

26. Chimney sweep: To remove the soot of a chimney.

27. Exasperating: A person who exasperates or irritates.

28. Transcendental: That which has great importance because of its consequences.

29. Invariably: That does not or cannot vary.

30. Annex: The secret space where Anne Frank and her family hid. Attached or added to

something else on which it depends.

31. Concentration camp: A place where prisoners were interned under brutal conditions and

where many died.

32. Nazi: German political party led by Adolf Hitler, which imposed a totalitarian regime

and carried out the Holocaust.

33. Gestapo: Nazi state secret police.

34. Holocaust: The genocide carried out by the Nazi regime against the Jews. 35.

35. Genocide: The systematic extermination of an ethnic, religious or cultural group. 36.

36. Ghetto: An area where a group of marginalized people are forced to live, often in

substandard living conditions.

37. Deportation: The process of sending people from one country to another, often against

their will.
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38. Resilience: The ability to adapt and recover from difficult situations.

39. Insolent: One who is disrespectful or rude or who behaves insolently.

40. Prepotent: A person who feels powerful or influential. Generally, he imposes his power

or authority to obtain a profit or benefit.

41. Episcopal: Of or relating to the bishop.

42. Deshuesar: To remove the bones from a fruit or to separate the meat from the bones of

an animal.

43. Ordinary: That is common or usual.

44. Mean: That is lacking in noble sentiments and generosity.

45. Lack of will, desire or interest for something or for things in general.

46. Gramophone: A device more evolved than the phonograph, which reproduced the

sounds recorded on a disc.

47. Chattering: Action of speaking a lot and without substance.

48. Naphthalene: Commercial name of a solid hydrocarbon obtained from coal tar, which

is used against the moth.

49. Sulky: Angry person with little intensity.

50. Grandiloquent: One who expresses himself with grandiloquence.

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PLOT

The plot of this book refers to the life of a Jewish girl named Anne Frank; which gives us a

deeper understanding of life in a time of great danger and uncertainty as it was the Second

World War. Anne writes in her diary her thoughts, feelings and daily experiences as she and

her family hide inside a secret annex of an Amsterdam building to escape Nazi persecution.

SCENARIO

The book points us to Amsterdam, The Netherlands as the setting in which this book takes

place, during World War II. Also, the secret annex behind the spice trading office of Anne

Frank's family, located in the center of the city, would be the scenario in which most of the

events narrated in the book take place. It is worth noting that the annex where Anne and her

family were hiding was a cramped and claustrophobic space, which is hidden behind the

revolving three-story bookcase.

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MAIN CHARACTERS

1. Anne Frank: Protagonist of the book and the author of the diary. Anne, a young Jewish

girl living in Amsterdam during World War II, hides in a secret annex to avoid capture

by the Nazis; an intelligent and curious teenager, who uses her diary to express her

deepest feelings and to escape from the reality in which she lives.

2. Margot Frank: Anne's older sister. Margot is more reserved than her sister and her

presence in the annex is a source of tension among the family members.

3. Otto Frank: Anne's father and the leader of the family. After the war, he published his

daughter's diary and worked to keep her memory alive. Otto is a strong and loving man

who does everything he can to protect his family during their stay in the secret annex.

4. Edith Frank: Anne's mother. Edith is a loving woman but concerned for her family's

safety, and her relationship with Anne is sometimes strained.

5. Peter van Daan: A teenager who hides in the secret annex with his family and with

whom Anne establishes a close friendship during their time inside the annex.

6. Mr. and Mrs. van Daan: Peter's parents. The relationship between the Van Daan family

and Anna's family is sometimes strained due to cultural differences and lack of space in

the annex.

7. Fritz Pfeffer: A Jewish dentist who hides in the secret annex with the Frank and van

Daan families. Pfeffer's presence in the annex causes some tension due to his difficult

personality.
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POINT OF VIEW

As I see it, Anna at a very young age experienced the horror of living in the midst of the

War and Nazi persecution, and to this day we can read how she shares those thoughts,

emotions, hopes and fears, giving the reader a unique perspective of life during that time of

the war and the plight of all Jews in Europe.

CONFLICT

The book presents us with several conflicts which develop throughout history, including:

1. The external conflict which encompasses World War II and the Nazi persecution of

Jews in Europe. Therefore, Anna and her family hide in the secret annex to avoid

being captured and deported to a concentration camp.

2. The internal conflict between Anna and the other members of the annex, dealing with

the tension, the lack of privacy of living in such a small space for an extended period

of time and the anguish of not knowing if they will survive the war.

3. The conflict between hope and despair, since, throughout the diary Anna

experiences emotional ups and downs as she thinks about the hope of survival,

building a better life after the war with her family and the guilt of being safe when

other people were going through hardship.